Harris County Public Library - Rashomonhttp://www.hcpl.net/taxonomy/term/3960/0
enSheer Genius and Dumb Luck: The Rise of a Cultural Behemothhttp://www.hcpl.net/content/sheer-genius-and-dumb-luck-rise-cultural-behemoth
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<img alt="Cover Art: Those Guys Have All the Fun by James A. Miller and Tom Shales" src="http://www.syndetics.com/index.aspx?type=xw12&amp;isbn=9780316043007/LC.GIF&amp;client=harrisp&amp;upc=&amp;oclc=" style="width: 90px; float: right; height: 140px; margin-left: 3px; margin-right: 3px" />There was a time when <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=ESPN&amp;index=.GH#focus">ESPN</a>&rsquo;s Chris &ldquo;Boomer&rdquo; Berman&nbsp;was my only friend&nbsp;and I actually grasped the nuances of <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=australian%20rules%20football&amp;index=.GH#focus">Australian Rules Football</a>.&nbsp;I tend to think of that period as my own personal <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=dark%20ages%20europe%20history&amp;index=.GH#focus">dark ages</a>&mdash;meaning I spent my time in a perpetual&nbsp;gloom, positing lots of&nbsp;<a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=monty%20python%20holy%20grail&amp;index=.TH#focus">benighted theories&nbsp;of how the universe works</a>, bathing very little, and living on a diet of root vegetables and beer.</p>
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Like me at the time, ESPN was just finding its way in the world. It&rsquo;s hard to fathom now, but a&nbsp;lot of bold print names with deep pockets doubted the viability of an all-sports network, so ESPN started as a &ldquo;<a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=andy%20hardy%20judy%20garland&amp;index=.GH#focus">let&rsquo;s-put-on-a-show-in-the-barn</a>&rdquo; operation that happened to be one of the first cable&nbsp;stations to own (laughably cheap) space on RCA&rsquo;s <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=satellite%20broadcasting%20history&amp;index=.GH#focus">Satcom I</a>&nbsp;satellite.</p>
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The all-sports-all-the-time concept was the invention of a down-at-the-heels father and son team (subsequently squeezed out&nbsp;when people who actually knew what they were doing got their collective foot in the door). Like many such enterprises, ESPN&rsquo;s success was equal parts <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=borgias&amp;index=.GH#focus">cut-throat Borgia-style ambition</a>, talented&mdash;if cranky--people, good timing, and sheer dumb luck. And like most such stories, the early struggles are more interesting to read than the stories looking down from the top, but <a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=Tom%20Shales&amp;index=.AH#focus">James Miller and Tom Shales</a> have compiled a highly readable oral history that, with its competing&nbsp;perspectives (and compulsive credit-taking) by most of the big and little players in the saga, has more than a little bit of a <strong><a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=rashomon%20kurosawa%20akutagawa&amp;index=.GH#focus">Rashomon</a></strong> feel to it.</p>
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<a href="http://catalog.hcpl.net/ipac20/ipac.jsp?menu=search&amp;aspect=subtab13&amp;term=tom%20shales%20those%20guys%20have%20all%20the%20fun&amp;index=.GH#focus"><strong>Those Guys Have All the Fun</strong></a> by James A. Miller and Tom Shales</p>
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<script type='text/javascript'>stLight.options({publisher:''});</script>http://www.hcpl.net/content/sheer-genius-and-dumb-luck-rise-cultural-behemoth#commentsAustralian Rules FootballDark AgesESPNNonfictionRashomonthe BorgiasBooksWed, 29 Jun 2011 15:08:21 +0000David Cherry7141 at http://www.hcpl.net